Stepping Stones

I’ll be needing resources like this in the coming months. The links and good advice stem from A Difference blog by Darren Kuropatwa, a math teacher from Winnipeg.

Posts Teachers Use on Their Classroom Blogs
Student’s Made This! (Darren Kuropatwa’s class policy)
Safe Blogging (Mrs. Simpson’s class blogging policy)
Etiquette (Mr. Malandrakis’ class blogging policy)

Posts from A Difference
The Fear of Transparency
The Fear of Losing Control
Distrust Breeds Fear
The Conversation

From Bud Hunt’s Blogging Wiki
Main Page
Blogging Parent Letters
Sample Blog Acceptable Use Policy
Student Created Blog Policies
Vignettes

From the Free Expression Policy Project (NYU School of Law)
The NRC’s May 2, 2002 Report, Youth, Pornography, and the Internet, Agrees with FEPP on Three Crucial Issues (”learning to swim” – thanks to D’Arcy Norman for this link)
There are many more valuable resources here that can be accessed from their home page

Podcasts
Inappropriate Blog Post (6 min. 38 sec.)
An excerpt from an interview where I discuss how I orchestrate ethical blogging practices in my classes and how I dealt with a student who posted something inappropriate nonetheless.

Websites
nonscholae.org
A grassroots organization of educational professionals devoted to the responsible use of blogs, instant messaging and other social software in schools.

BlogSaftey.com
A site where teens, parents, teachers and adult bloggers can learn about the benefits of safe blogging.

Stories From the Classroom
Just two clicks …
A student posts his phone number. It turns out to be a phoney number. The teacher turns it into a teachable moment. – The student’s post, The student’s follow-up post, The teacher’s story

I know there are many more blog posts out there that give teachers and parents the tools to practice and talk about safe blogging. Please email me or leave a comment on this post if you know of or have written such a post and I will add it to the list. I’m particularly interested in collecting class blogging policies that teachers post to their classroom blogs or that are explicitly used in their classes. I’m also interested in collecting “stories” of how teachers have dealt with students posting inappropriate material. Keep those stories coming …